About a year and a half ago, I went to a conference where I had a manuscript consult with an agent. A couple months before the conference, we were asked to send in our query and the first 10 pages of our manuscript for the agent to look over ahead of time, then we’d have 15 minutes to chat at the conference about our work. The manuscript I sent her was my baby project, the project of my heart, the book I’d always wanted to write. This consult was with a pretty well-known agent who was the head of a… Read More

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**Note: If you haven’t seen the previous Book Hook Battles, check out the June 2017 Book Hook Battle post to learn more and to score a FREE printable version of the game so you can play it yourself! We were short on time for this month’s battle, so we got back to basics: a small stack of middle grade and a small stack of young adult. Oh, how I love these two sections at the bookstore! Middle Grade Stack Middle Grade Winner Young Adult Stack Young Adult Winner Book Hook Battle: Your Turn Don’t forget to head to the first Book Hook Battle post and grab your… Read More

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(If you didn’t see the last post on prepping the week before conference, be sure to check that out first here.) You’ve looked over the conference schedule and made your packing list and action list. You’ve prioritized and tackled your list. Your materials are prepped, your laundry is done, and your errands are run. You’ve waited, anticipated, and prepared and tomorrow is the day: conference. If you’re anything like me, at this point you’re feeling physically prepared, but mentally you’re a mess. You’re second guessing yourself, terrified of meeting new people, and you can’t even remember what your book is… Read More

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You’ve registered for a writing conference. You’ve booked your flight. You’ve secured your hotel room. You’ve signed up for awesome extras like pitches and bootcamps. Now the conference is a week away and you’re stuck twiddling your thumbs like, “Now what?” Or worse, it’s 11pm the night before the conference starts and you realize you’ve got 4 hours before your shuttle arrives to take you to the airport and you’ve yet to prep or pack, let alone sleep. I’ve been there 🙋 and it’s not any fun at all. In fact, it’s uber stressful. But really, with a little thought and preparation,… Read More

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I love writing conferences! I attended my first writing conference in 2012 and I was blown away by how much I learned, the people I met, and the overall experience. CONFERENCES ARE SO WORTH THE MONEY. Writing conferences are held all around the world, all throughout the year, so there are plenty of different options to choose from, including genre specific conferences. You can even find one day workshop events, so you don’t have to front the cost of a hotel room or take multiple days off of work. If you’ve never been to a conference before, here’s a basic… Read More

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You love to write. Writing brings you joy and happiness and fulfillment. You know that writing brings meaning to your life. In fact, you can’t picture your life without writing. But sometimes writing is just hard. Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get ten freaking words on the page. Sometimes the words seem to flow and you get 1500+ words in a hour, then you re-read it and realize it was ALL GIBBERISH and you’re going to have delete every single one of those words and start over again. Sometimes you can’t think of what story to write. Sometimes… Read More

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**Note: If you haven’t seen the previous Book Hook Battles, check out the June 2017 Book Hook Battle post to learn more and to score a FREE printable version of the game so you can play it yourself! For this month’s Book Hook Battle, we decided to focus on Science Fiction. Sci-Fi isn’t something Jess or I typically read, so we thought it might be fun to branch out a bit. To branch out even further, we broke it into three categories: middle grade sci-fi, young adult sci-fi, and ADULT sci-fi. We hardly EVER read adult fiction. I didn’t even know where the adult section… Read More

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This post contains affiliate links (to help keep this blog up and running!). I love books and I love movies, so when books get made into movies, it’s a double win! And whenever I hear that a book I love is getting made into a movie I GET SO EXCITED. Anyone with me? Sure, the book is (almost) always better, but it’s still so much fun to see a book you love acted out on the big screen. Even when the movie ruins the book, it’s still fun! I know all you movies-ruin-the-books believers are screaming at me right about… Read More